Sensex\, Nifty drop as losses in financials weigh

Sensex, Nifty drop as losses in financials weigh

Reuters 

By Arnab Paul

Ltd, the top laggard on the broader NSE index, fell nearly four percent ahead of its December-quarter results, while SBI traded 2.47 percent lower.

Dewan Ltd fell as much as 7.6 percent after reporting a drop in net profit last week, while housing company Housing slipped 5.5 percent.

"The issue with Infrastructure Leasing and (IL&FS) is not over, contrary to earlier beliefs and that is why we see housing finance companies in the red today," said AK Prabhakar, head of research, -

A string of defaults at the major Indian infrastructure financing and building company had triggered sharp falls in the stock and debt markets last year amid fears of contagion within the rest of the country's financial sector.

On Friday, unit said it would initiate insolvency proceedings in

Earlier last week, CRISIL downgraded debenture rating of IL&FS Transportation network's unit.

However, gains in Zee Entertainment capped further declines in NSE index, as the company's stock jumped nearly 15 percent after it denied any involvement in demonetisation-linked transactions.

"There is a wait-and-watch sentiment because of the budget," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, adding, "Earnings this quarter hasn't been great so far, and I don't think we will witness earnings growth of even 7 percent-8 percent this year."

The broader Nifty was down 0.89 percent at 10,684.55 as of 0646 GMT, while the benchmark Sensex was 0.79 percent lower at 35,742.

Asian shares edged higher after U.S. agreed on Friday to end a 35-day old partial shutdown of the government shutdown. Engineering firm, gained over 4 percent after reporting a 37-percent surge in December-quarter net profit after market hours on Friday.

Canara Bank Ltd, down 1.7 percent, and Tata Power Co Ltd, which slipped 2.7 percent, are expected to report results later in the day.

(Reporting By in BENGALURU, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, January 28 2019. 12:28 IST